


Tadashi is online.

by quantize



Series: Kageyama Rare Pair Week 2016 [4]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, MMORPGs, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-08
Updated: 2016-06-08
Packaged: 2018-07-13 02:59:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7135700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quantize/pseuds/quantize
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“It’ll be fun,” Suga had promised, introducing Kageyama to an MMORPG. Kageyama had never been one for video games, so he was not sure why he had agreed to play. On hindsight, he was glad he had accepted Suga's invitation after all, because he got to meet Tadashi.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tadashi is online.

**Author's Note:**

> For Day 4 of [Kageyama Rare Pair Week](http://kageyama-rarepairweek.tumblr.com/): Virtual Reality MMORPG AU, **Falling in love(?)**
> 
> The terms "Amusphere" and "Virtual Reality MMORPG" are from Sword Art Online. The unnamed game in the fic is my own creation, inspired by the many MMORPGs out there.
> 
> Big thanks to Marge for beta-reading, as always! YOU ROCK.

Kageyama tugged at his shirt, glancing at his reflection in a display window to make sure he looked presentable. He gazed at his watch. 20 minutes to the meeting time...maybe he had gotten here a little too early.

He reached for his phone and typed out a message to his friend, letting him know that he had arrived. 

_so early!!_ Tadashi’s frazzled reply brought a grin to his face. _i’ll be there soon, sorry for the wait_

 _its cool_ , Kageyama reassured, and slid the phone back into his pocket. 

This was going to be his first time seeing his online friend in real life. They had met through a virtual reality MMORPG, an extra unlikely place for Kageyama to strike up a friendship as he had never been one for gaming. Till now, he was not sure what had possessed him to agree to try out the newest gaming fad that had taken the whole school by storm.

“It’ll be fun,” Suga had promised, lending him a weird headgear. “This is an Amusphere. You’ll need it to play the game. I’ve already installed the game so all you have to do is to register for an account first before you dive in.”

Reaching home, Kageyama had put on the Amusphere and lay down in bed, feeling rather silly. He had remained uncertain about playing, but once he had reopened his eyes to sprawling green fields, the perfectly replicated smell of grass and the feel of the wind against his skin, he had been glad he had gone through with it after all. 

Suga had invited him to join his guild, made up of friends at school and their family members, and it had been at the guildhouse where Kageyama had met Tadashi, then known by his in-game name Hikaru, for the first time. Kageyama had gotten along pretty decently with his guildmates, and it was Hikaru he especially connected with.

Prior to logging in, Kageyama had already decided that he wanted to play as a human battle mage, and his guildmates had been more than eager to help out. Kageyama’s training party had seen several rotations, but Hikaru had remained more or less a permanent member, constantly assisting him with grinding, and quest and boss runs. Not only was Hikaru friendly and patient, helpful, he was also a highly levelled Nephilim archer. Kageyama loved watching him attack—whenever Hikaru used a skill, his six feathered white wings would materialise, and Kageyama would forget to breathe. 

Kageyama would then pay for his failure to remain alert, consequently dying from the boss monster’s stray hits. Suga, their white mage, would hastily revive him, and the floodgates of “Tobio, are you all right!?” and “he got distracted by Hikaru, what an idiot” would open. It was all worth it; Kageyama was more than willing to put up with line after line of biting sarcasm from Ankylosaurid, their towering elf paladin, just to see Hikaru in action.

Taking their in-game friendship to Skype had been Hikaru’s idea. The guild had a chat which Kageyama had stayed away from, as he had not seen the point in going there when they hung out in-game and at school. It was only after Hikaru had asked him nicely and promised to chat with him anytime he wanted had he given in and joined the chat. Kageyama had never been able to say no to Hikaru. Through his chats with Hikaru, he learned about his friend’s real name, Yamaguchi Tadashi, and that he was a schoolmate.

 _we all know your real name_ , Tadashi had said in their chat, _so it’s only right i tell you mine_

For the past half-year, Kageyama had settled into a comfortable routine of running straight home from classes and looking forward to chatting with Tadashi, raiding a dungeon or two with his guildmates until his parents came back home for dinner, and complaining to Tadashi about homework. He had also saved up money to buy a headset, and when he had first heard Tadashi speak and laugh over Skype, his heart had almost burst.

Kageyama wondered if this was what affection sounded like—Tadashi nagging at him to finish his assignments, Tadashi murmuring about his bad day at school, Tadashi laughing softly at Kageyama’s jokes.

Their first face-to-face meeting had been a long time in the making. Tadashi had never come up to say hi to Kageyama even though they went to the same school, and always gave the guild’s offline meet-ups a miss, which made Kageyama think that he was a very shy person in real life. All this had only made their upcoming meeting even more significant.

Would Tadashi be tall and bespectacled, like a kinder bizarro version of his best friend Ankylosaurid? Or would he look just like his game character, sans wings? Kageyama shook his head; the first thought was pretty disturbing, and as for the second, he should probably assume that Tadashi would look nothing like Hikaru, much like Suga did not resemble his avatar Clemente aside from their silver hair.

His phone announced a new text message, and Kageyama took it out again.

 _i’m here, where are you?_ Kageyama’s face glowed and his heart pounded with anticipation. He lifted his gaze from his phone.

And he saw him—a teen his age catching his breath, his head swivelling around wildly.

Kageyama’s assumption had been right. While Hikaru’s hair was stylishly set in a half-ponytail, Tadashi’s was on the shaggy side, with a prominent cowlick sticking out the top of his head. Hikaru stood straight and proud and tall, whereas Tadashi slouched just slightly.

He walked up to Tadashi, and extended a friendly hand.

“Hi.”

Tadashi gave him an odd look at first, and then his eyes grew wide and his mouth dropped open. Kageyama grinned; all their guildmates who had met him all had had the same reaction, having not expected him to look exactly like his character. Tadashi gripped his hand, and they laughed.

“Hi, Tobio. Nice meeting you, I’m Yamaguchi Tadashi.”

Kageyama could not recall when he had last been this excited and happy to see someone.

“My name’s Kageyama Tobio. Nice to meet you too.”

Up close, Kageyama could see that Tadashi’s cheeks were covered in freckles, while Hikaru did not have a single one on his face. He decided that the lack of freckles was Hikaru’s loss.

Of course, it did not matter to Kageyama how different Tadashi looked from his avatar. Tadashi and Hikaru were two sides to the same coin, and they had the same wide, happy grin that made their entire face light up like a star at night, giving Kageyama a warm, fuzzy feeling in his chest. 

He looked forward to getting to know Tadashi better.

**Author's Note:**

> This is for everyone who's woken up super early or stayed up really late to talk to friends on the other side of the world.
> 
> For everyone who's spent time in class or work, thinking about grinding for high-level gear or clearing dungeons in a MMO, thinking about getting home asap to chat and hang out with people online.
> 
> And this is for everyone who remembers the first time they met their online friend, and for everyone who hopes to make that first meeting a reality.
> 
> Thank you, and hope you've enjoyed it! Feel free to leave a comment!


End file.
